Lucy Kincaid understands the dangers of corruption. As an FBI agent, she has witnessed some very bad deeds committed by seemingly good people. That's why she's glad to see corrupt DEA Agent Nicole Rollins behind bars for murder, conspiracy, and gunrunning. But when Rollins makes a daring escape-jeopardizing a busload of children and killing five officers-Lucy becomes the key to the biggest manhunt in Texas history...and the target of a brilliant killer.

Some believe Rollins has fled the country. But Lucy suspects her plan is far more sinister-a taunting game of cat and mouse that hits much closer to home. First, an FBI agent with a connection to Texas is killed in Washington. Then, Kane Rogan disappears on a mission. When Rollins ups the ante again, Lucy is determined to save the people she loves-before her enemy strikes again. Time is running out. The body count is rising. Rollins wants more than revenge-she wants to destroy everything Lucy holds dear...

Get a sneak peek at Asa Allison Brennan'sNo Good Deed(available November 3, 2015) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

CHAPTER ONE

Nicole Rollins had always been a meticulous planner. She had contingencies for almost every possible scenario, which was why she’d been able to deceive the DEA for fifteen years. People were mostly predictable, and mostly fools.

Even though being arrested wasn’t in her master plan, she had a contingency, and the minute she was arraigned the clock started ticking. Her people knew what to do and when to do it. The time line, by necessity, had to be fluid, but when she was ready, she gave the signal and the countdown began. Nothing was left to chance, because she only had one shot at escaping and she had to get it right.

Lucy Kincaid inspired me from the beginning. I introduced her in FEAR NO EVIL, the third book of my NO EVIL trilogy when she was kidnapped the morning of her high school graduation. I had no intention of writing her series when I wrote FEAR because I thought the Kincaid family storyline was over.

“Good luck with that,”my muse whispered.

By the end of the book, Lucy had become so alive on the page that I knew she’d get her own series. She was strong, smart, troubled —she’d killed her unarmed rapist in cold blood. That event shaped and changed her. When I was ready to write her series, I wanted a series character who wasn’t a seasoned veteran —Lucy was 24, and I planned on telling stories of her going through Quantico and being a rookie FBI agent.

Lucy needed the a love interest—someone who could bring her back to life in a world that had become all work for her. I’d intended to “make him up”and introduce him in the first book …except Sean Rogan walked in from my FBI trilogy and said, “I’m with her.”

Sean is the best thing to happen to Lucy, and vice versa. Sean is strong, fun-loving, brave, smart, and has a much darker past than first appears. I’m still learning about him! That’s what makes this all so much fun …my characters often surprise me.

I often get the question about where to start. I write my books to stand alone, but because this is a series, there are some books that are better to start with than others. Now that Lucy has 10 books, there are three good places to start:

In the Beginning …

LOVE ME TO DEATH is the first book in the Lucy Kincaid series. She’d met Sean through her brother, but always kept her distance …until she finds out that her family kept a secret from her and she needs Sean’s help. The first three books in the series have stand-alone mysteries but the over-arching story thread is how Sean and Lucy fall in love and make a commitment.

The Quantico Stories …

SILENCED is also a great place to start reading. Lucy has been accepted into the FBI Academy and she and Sean are together …but are so busy with work their time together is limited. The three Quantico stories have an over-arching theme of how the past affects the present for both Sean and Lucy, but each story is a stand-alone mystery.

The Rookie Year …

In DEAD HEAT, Lucy is an FBI Agent and sent to San Antonio, Texas. These three books focus on Lucy growing as a new agent and how the choices she makes during her first two months on the job have unforeseen consequences. The over-arching storyline in these three books is the drug trade and specifically one cartel leader sees Lucy as the enemy. While each book has a separate mystery, they are connected through the bad guy.

And the Future …

While Sean’s career is stagnant and Lucy has to walk on eggshells at work because of choices she made, personally Sean and Lucy are at a high point at the end of the Rookie Year …so expect that they’ll be shaken up a bit next year. But this is romantic suspense! the story promise is that no matter what, Sean and Lucy will survive, together. It just might take them longer than they think, and the road won’t always be smooth. But the journey will be exciting.

Newly minted FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid is settling into her job in San Antonio, Texas, when the corpse of Harper Worthington, the husband of a sitting congresswoman, is found naked in a motel on the wrong side of town. It's up to Lucy to locate the last person to see him alive: a teenage prostitute who seems to have vanished into thin air.

When forensics determines that Harper was poisoned, Lucy and her new by-the-book partner dig deep into his life to find out who might want him dead. Why did Harper lie to his wife and his staff? Was he involved in an illicit affair? Embezzling money? Laundering money for a drug cartel? Or was he simply a pawn in someone else's dangerous game?

Lucy's boyfriend Sean Rogan is hired by Harper's company to run a security audit, causing friction between Lucy and the FBI. But when Sean finds a high-tech bug in Harper's office, an entirely new threat emerges—a far-reaching conspiracy run by a ruthless killer who will do anything to get he wants, and kill anyone who gets in his way. And the person between him and victory is Lucy Kincaid.

Get a sneak peek at Allison Brennan'sBest Laid Plans(available August 4, 2015) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.

Chapter 2

Sean woke up the moment Lucy climbed out of bed. He glanced at the bedside clock. It was 3:30 A.M.

Lucy slipped out of the room and Sean sat up. It had been months since Lucy had had a full night’s sleep. This insomnia of hers was going to wear her out. And him. He’d found himself napping during the day for a couple hours after lunch, and he couldn’t blame the heat.

It was more than insomnia. Lucy was physically and emotionally drained and wanted to hide it from everyone. Except, she couldn’t hide it from him even if she wanted to.

On his way home to San Diego, P.I. Patrick Kincaid takes a detour through San Francisco to check on the wellbeing of a family friend who’s mysteriously been unreachable. What he doesn’t expect is to be shot at before he can find out why attorney Elle Santana won’t ask the police for help in finding a missing girl. Soon, he’s on the run from both good guys and bad as he and Elle race to find the witness and take down a sweatshop run by a corrupt businessman with a penchant for violence.

LEAD TO DEAD ENDS

Newly sworn FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid can’t remember the last time she spent the holidays with her whole family, but getting home by December 25th is proving to be a bit of a problem. A blizzard shut down the airports and she and her boyfriend Sean Rogan are stuck in a Denver hotel … with a dead body. And if that wasn’t all, back in San Diego Colonel Kincaid ends up in the hospital, where an even greater danger awaits … a man with a vendetta who will kill anyone who gets in his way. This Christmas, the Kincaid family needs nothing less than a miracle to survive. And time is running out.

By the time they arrived back at Elle’s apartment, they were both tired and on edge. Elle had been ignoring calls from Sandy Chin and Patrick knew the situation was bad—if the child welfare chick pushed it, Kami would the subject of a bench warrant and Elle would be in trouble with the bar. He hoped that, since it was the wee hours of Sunday morning, they could find a way to smooth things over if they found Kami soon and child welfare could see that she was safe and sound.

Authors Laura Griffin and Allison Brennan have cowritten a book, the first in the Moreno and Hart series, titled Crash and Burn, which includes elements of both mystery and romance, and so they are here today to discuss their favorite onscreen romantic thrillers. Thanks, ladies!

We’re not weird!...Well, maybe we are.

Laura Griffin and I write romantic suspense on the dark side, and both of us get comments from friends and family asking why we write so dark. This always surprises us.

I never thought I wrote particularly dark until my second book came out. My husband worked in the California State Capitol at the time, and a mutual acquaintance approached him and said, “I just finished Allison’s new book.” He leaned into my husband and said, “It was really creepy. Aren’t you worried about her?”

My husband, always quick on the uptake, looked around, darted his eyes back and forth, and whispered, “I wasn’t until I read the draft of her next book. She castrates someone in the first chapter.”

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall!

Laura and I were talking about this phenomenon over drinks at a writer’s conference (because that’s what writers do at conferences, didn’t you know?) and she said her husband sometimes worries about her, too, but for different reasons. “I research a lot of pretty grisly stuff online—everything from bomb making to body disposal—and he’s convinced I’ve gotten myself on some FBI watch list.”

We started discussing why we love writing dark and suspenseful romantic thrillers. What turned us from the light, fluffy romantic comedies that we both love to read?

Nothing is more important to private investigator Sean Rogan than his relationship with FBI trainee Lucy Kincaid. But when his past catches up with him, Sean faces an ultimatum: clear his name and help the FBI take down a rogue agent, or go to prison and lose everything he holds dear. With only Agent Noah Armstrong as his back-up and forced to keep Lucy in the dark, Sean steps back into his old world. But the longer he’s undercover, the more dangerous the game becomes. More than Sean’s future with Lucy is at stake—so is his life.

Lucy can’t imagine Sean would keep secrets from her—until an FBI agent casts doubt about who he really is…and who he used to be. Why did Sean quit his job with his brother and move to New York? Why hasn’t he told her anything about his new job? With more questions than answers, Lucy doesn’t know who to believe or who she can trust. All she knows is that Sean is in grave danger, and this time, it’s personal.

Get a sneek peak of Allison Brennan's Stolen (available June 6, 2013) with this exclusive excerpt!

Lucy decided to go to the source and called her friend Special Agent Suzanne Madeaux in the New York City office. She trusted Suzanne to be discreet.

After they had exchanged pleasantries, Lucy said, “I need a favor, and I need complete confidentiality. If you can’t help me, I understand. I don’t want you to get in any trouble.”

A new trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Lucy Kincaid has already seen more than her share of murder and mayhem. Still reeling from the sex-crime case that sealed her reputation, she’s found a true friend and mentor in Agent Tony Presidio. No matter what goes down at the Bureau, Tony’s got her back—until he’s called to New York to help investigate the murder of a reporter with ties to Lucy.

NEVER PLAY THE VICTIM

But the reporter may not be the first victim of a patient killer with a penchant for revenge, and she’s definitely not the last. Connections between closed cases, a missing person, and Tony himself lead Lucy to fear for those she cares for most. When the FBI is rocked by the death of one of their own, Lucy seeks the help of her boyfriend, private investigator Sean Rogan, to help put together the puzzle—and puts her career in jeopardy. But the harder she pushes for answers, the clearer the truth becomes: There’s a killer inside Quantico. Watching her every move. Waiting to kill again…

Get a sneak peek of Allison Brennan's Stalked (available October 30, 2012) with this EXCLUSIVE Lucy/Sean scene!

“Thank you.”

“For telling the truth?”

“If I don’t go back I won’t have to worry about the driv­ing test on Monday. And we don’t have time for you to teach me.”

A few years ago, my author friend Toni McGee Causey presented a workshop at the Romance Writers of America’s national convention called, “Smart Women, Short Skirts,” with a nod to the musical fun known as Jimmy Buffet. We focused on writing smart female characters – not only the kick-ass heroine, but intellectually smart. Few “too-stupid-to-live” moments, one of my greatest pet peeves in romantic suspense today. I’m not big into damsels in distress—which is probably why I never identified with most Disney Princesses. I like my heroines to be strong, independent, and smart—and in the process of pursuing their goals or feeding their obsession, learn to love and be loved by men who appreciate them.

Now that I’m caught up on Bones, I have a new obsession: NCIS. I’m in the middle of season seven and plan to be caught up long before season ten starts.

NCIS isn’t a romance, and doesn’t have much romantic subplot, though there definitely elements of the romantic thriller in some storylines and back story. For example, Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his past relationship with Jenny Sheperd (his boss for three seasons.) Their past relationship complicated their present and provided sexual tension and conflict even if they didn’t rekindle the flame.

Today, author Allison Brennan—whose new Lucy Kincaid novel,Silenced, was released just last week—reveals she has a weakness. An addiction, if you will. Thanks for sharing with us, Allison!

I’m a television addict.

I’d rather watch good TV than go to the movies. Maybe it’s because I can curl up on the couch in my pajamas and a glass of wine, something frowned upon in movie theaters. Or maybe it’s because I gave up TV for three years while I was working full-time at a day job and the only time I had to write was at night, after my kids went to bed.

The days of network television are pretty much over. Viewers have choices now, and great programming focusing on character dominate the landscape. Cable networks usually have shorter seasons, tighter storylines, and stronger characters—in lieu of big budgets and flashy settings. Some of my favorite shows are on cable networks – Haven, the SyFy network series loosely based on Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid. Season three launches in the summer of 2012.

I’m uniquely qualified to discuss this series; not because the main character shares my surname, or because I’ve read nearly every Kathy Reichs book, or even because I’ve seen every episode of the television series. It’s because I watched all seven seasons in less than four months, finishing only days before the second half of season seven started.

I love this show. I love the characters, the mysteries, the forensics, the grit, the dark humor, and the quirkiness. It’s brilliantly written with strong actors and they haven’t slacked off on story, which can happen in a long running series. A brave, handsome, smart hero paired with an intelligent, capable, independent heroine and a well-developed cast of secondary characters. It’s definitely one of my all-time favorite shows.

It has been seven years since Lucy was attacked—and almost killed—by an online predator. Today, she is well on her way toward a new life.

While waiting to begin her training at the FBI Academy, Lucy is tireless in her fight against cyber sex crime. Her current mission: to find out who killed a high-priced call girl linked to a powerful Congressman.

A COLD-BLOODED KILLER

A number of known prostitutes—with scores of high profile clients—are turning up dead all over D.C. Is this the work of a depraved killer? Or the result of an inside job? Lucy’s investigation will take her into an underground network of prostitutes, the chambers of the country’s most powerful players, and her own dark past to confront an unknown enemy who’s always one step ahead of her. With the help of her P.I. boyfriend Sean Rogan, Lucy must find and protect the only witness who can identify the killer and end the conspiracy, but can the witness be trusted? Lucy will risk everything to expose the truth and ensure justice is served, even if that means putting herself in the line of fire…

Get a sneak peek of Allison Brennan’s new Lucy Kincaid novel, Silenced (available April 24, 2012), with an exclusive extended excerpt of Chapters 1-3, plus a special bonus scene featuring Lucy and Sean!

The whore traitor lived in a secure building with live cameras and nosy neighbors. Brian had to wait for her to leave.

Waiting made him antsy. He just wanted to get this job over and done. He didn’t hate the whore. In fact, he had no feelings about her at all. But she’d crossed the line from useful to problem, and problems must be solved.

Justified is one of my all-time favorite shows, and not just because it stars Timothy Olyphant.

As soon as I discovered it—by accident, mind you—and downloaded the pilot, I was hooked. Exactly what a pilot is supposed to do, right? Hook you with an amazing story, great characters, and stellar writing so you go out and watch the rest of the series.

Which I did.

Justified stars Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, loosely based on an Elmore Leonard character from his short story “Fire in the Hole.” Set in Kentucky, both Lexington and the rural surrounds, the flavor of the community shines. It’s violent and fast-paced and different from all the other crime shows out there.